


Forests and Other Kinds of Wildlife

by LadyLondonderry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Forests, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-18 08:37:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9377024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLondonderry/pseuds/LadyLondonderry
Summary: Louis is a prince with a strong imagination and sense of adventure, and Harry is the boy in the forest. They're young and there's a scone exchanged.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a prompt challenge that a group of us are participating in for the prompt "Bloodsucker". To read the other amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, you can [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/bloodsucker/works) and to see all fics written as part of the challenge, you can [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/2017_hl_prompt_challenge/works).

Prince Louis had been told time after time that he was not wander off the marked paths in the royal forest. When he was very young, he was told it was because there were terrible monsters out there, such as fierce dragons and angry behemoths, that would eat little boys alive.

Now that Louis was twelve, though, he knew better. 

His parents, the King and Queen, tried in vain to ward him off with threats of the repercussions of coming back with muddy trousers or bramble-torn linens, or even running across one of the many trespassers of the forest (the ones who were rumoured to be about the drink, generally). Of course, they knew how stubborn Louis could be when he set his mind to adventure, and so had little hope in actually dissuading him, but they tried their hardest anyways, in the hope that something would stick. 

But of course, Louis loved a good adventure.

It was just after breakfast on one of those rare, cloudless days, when Louis managed to escape the watchful eye of his tutors (Geography and Maths, respectfully) and trudge a path between the overgrown hedges of the Old Garden in making his way toward the freedom that the Royal Forest had to offer. 

He hummed a happy tune to himself as he ran the stretch between the edge of the Old Garden and the entrance of the Royal Forest. It was a beautiful day and he had half a smushed scone in the pocket of his blazer for future use when he reached whatever destination this adventure was leading him to. He had thoughts of dragons and knights, of armies and victory, and the day felt warm and infinite.

-

Of course the first place they would go looking for him would be on the marked pathways, as they always did. For a while he used to be able to evade them by shimmying up the nearest tree (and absolutely ruining his breeches), but they had begun to become wise to even that trick, so more tactical manoeuvres were called for.

Namely, going off-path.

Louis followed the marked path for what felt like an eternity until he came to the fork that separated the way deeper into the forest and the way to town. Dragons lay in the forest, he thought to himself, and probably pirates. 

Well, they were more likely to be deeper in the forest than on the way to town, right?

His journeying took him down the path deeper into the forest until he finally felt it was time - and veered off course just as he was approaching a small stream. Following the stream meant he couldn’t get lost! See, that’s why Louis was smart. 

After playing a game of pirates as he jumped perilously back and forth on some of the less slimy rocks on the edges of the stream, and journeying up and down mossy mounds to find dragons to fight, he heard the most absolutely horrendous growl.

 _A real dragon has come to attack me,_ he thought. _I don’t even have a sword._

Freezing underneath an overturned tree, he waited for the scaley creature to reveal himself, thinking about how short his life had been and how few sweets he had been able to consume. What a waste.

When the growling came again, it sounded just as close, and he felt his heart stop for only a moment, just to continue beating when he realised - anticlimactically - that it was his stomach. A little disappointing really, since he really would love to fight a dragon, but Louis found he was rather happy to live another day.

He also found he was rather happy that he remembered to nab a scone.

Nibbling on the crumbly bits of scone that he pulled from his pocket, he continued his trek along the stream. He figured the fact that he was getting hungry meant that it was about time for lunch, and he certainly didn’t want to miss that.

Weaving his way through the trees and keeping a close eye on the stream to his right, instinctually assuming it would let out at the back gardens once it flowed out of the forest, he made his way through leafy undergrowth and startled more than a few small creatures that went scattering around him. 

The trees were starting to get thinner and he was starting to get glimpses of the castle through the foliage when, in his excitement, one foot became ensnared in a raised tree root that sent him tumbling face-first into the mud at the edge of the stream.

 _Pirates don’t cry_ , he thought to himself as he sat up. Sticks and pebbles congealed in mud caked itself to his forearms. _Knights who fight dragons most certainly don’t cry._

But he couldn’t go back to the castle in this state. Muddy breaches and a torn frock were one thing, but they wouldn’t even let him in the doors with this much filth on, he looked like one of the bog people from his fairy book.

He slid his way down to the stream (his clothes were already ruined, they couldn’t get much worse) and stuck his hands in the water to rinse them, running his palms across the smoother stones at the bottom to get them clean. 

It was a long and tedious process that Louis did not have nearly enough patience for, and was really about to give up with only his arms mostly mud-free, when he noticed as he dripped water on his feet that there was something stuck to his ankle.

He wondered briefly if it was simply a dark splinter he hadn’t felt yet, but upon closer inspection there were a small handful of dark spots between both his ankles, having hiked up his breeches so as to not get them muddy earlier.

 _No,_ he thought to himself, starting to scratch at one of the black flecks on his ankle. The possibilities of what it could be dwindled as he took a closer look and saw the tiny legs attached to it. 

_No, no, no no no,_ his brain chanted as his scratches turned to furiously picking at it. There were so many of them, and they were _attached_ to him and dragons were honestly much less scary to deal with than little bloodsucking bugs that if he went home with would mean he would be forced into being covered with that horrible salve that the friar doled out at every opportunity. It left Louis smelling like fish and tomatoes for days and he absolutely could not stand it.

Louis let out a few key words that would have his mother gasping in shock if she heard, and managed to get the body of one of the ticks off of him, only to have the head stay put and a small trickle of blood to appear. Screw that nonsense about pirates not crying, he had bigger things to worry about and tears were justified.

“You’re doing a horrible job, you know. You’re gonna get it stuck.”

Louis whirled around - in focusing on the mud and the ticks he had totally missed the stranger coming up behind him.

“Who’re you?” Louis asked, looking accusingly at the stranger. The boy stood in front of him looked to be his own age, if not a little younger, with a headful of curls and clothes that hinted at a life in town rather than one at the castle.

“I’m Harry,” the boy said as if it were obvious. “You’re going to hurt yourself scratching at them like that. It’ll make your skin go all purple.”

Louis frowned. Sure, logically he could use all the help he could get but this boy was acting like he knew everything and Louis found that downright rude. “And how would you know? What makes you so special?” 

The boy pointed at his own ankles, with his trousers tucked into his boots. “Get them all the time,” he said. “Could even help you with yours, if you want. For a price.”

Louis looked up sharply from where he had gone back to scratching at the ticks. “Are you trying to blackmail me?” he squeaked, his voice rising as he continued. “I’m the prince! You can’t do that!”

Harry’s eyes went wide as Louis got louder. He glanced down at his own shoes. “Only wanted some of your scone,” he mumbled.

Louis huffed. “Well,” he paused. His outburst may have been uncalled for but he was a prince after all. “Maybe.” He forced his fingers to still, the presence of the ticks boring into his brain. “If you can get all of these off of me, I _suppose_ you could have _some_.”

Harry nodded. “I can get them off, ‘m real good at it.” He plopped down in the mud next to Louis and stuck one hand into a vest pocket, coming out with a small number of what looked to be small metal implements. 

Louis blanched, pulling his ankle away. “What are you gonna do, stab me? Don’t touch me with those!”

Harry frowned, looking indignant. “Wasn’t gonna! These were my Da’s, I don’t stab people with them!” he held up one set of silver pieces held together with twine. “This one’s a nipper, it takes them right off!”

Louis warily let Harry get close, the metal monstrosity in his hand making him question the deal he made. But Harry was gentle as he put one hand on Louis’s ankle to lift his breeches and with the other one took the nipper to one of the ticks on his ankle. It clearly took Harry’s strength to pull it off and hurt like nobody’s business but after a moment it seemed to just pop off, and Harry washed his tool clean in the stream. 

“See?” Harry asked, looking triumphant. Louis leant down and inspected where the tick was - it was clean, looking nothing like the welt that was forming from the one he had scratched off himself. 

“Fine,” Louis said. If you can get all the rest off of me, you can have all of the scone in my pocket. 

Truth be told, he was thinking about the lunch he was going to get when he was back at the castle, so he likely wasn’t going to have eaten the rest of the scone anyway.

Harry looked pleased and made careful work of the rest of the ticks. “You know,” he said to Louis at one point. “You really shouldn’t have gone off the path. You wouldn’t have gotten covered in bugs.”

“You hush,” Louis made a face. “You’re off the path too! Hey, why are you even out here? This is the Royal Forest, after all!”

Harry paused and paused, giving Louis a look. “My Da told me you can’t own a whole forest.”

“Well your Dad doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Louis said. “But I’ll let you go just this once, because I feel like being nice.”

Harry frowned but dutifully finished pulling the rest of the ticks off of Louis’s second ankle. When he had washed the last one into the stream, he carefully slid the utensil back into his pocket and then turned to Louis expectantly.

Louis felt around his ankles, relief spreading through him at the thought of not having to deal with the salve. “Alright, Curly,” he conceded. He pulled from his pocket the wax paper-wrapped scone, a crumbled mess by now, and handed it over. Harry snatched it and began stuffing as much into his mouth as he could at once.

Louis gave a concerned look. “Slow down, your sweet tooth can’t be that bad, can it?” Then after a moment something occurred to him. “Hey, how did you even know I had that with me?”

Harry gulped down the last of what he had in his mouth and tucked the rest away in the pocket with the nipper. He looked rather unconcerned as he told Louis, “Been following you for a while. Was wondering what a rich boy was doing off the path in the forest.”

Louis’s eyebrows raised at being called a rich boy but while he was trying to think about a good enough insult to hurl back, Harry got up and wiped the majority of the mud off of his trousers. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Louis asked as he started to wander off.

Harry looked back, surprised. “You’ve got to get back to your castle, don’t you? Unless you’ve got another scone I’m gonna go find something more fun to do.”

He turned back and it seemed like only a few seconds before Harry was gone, disappeared between the trees. Louis tried to scramble up to figure out where he was going, but slipped and ended up back in the mud again. By the time he had properly righted himself, Harry was long gone.

He really was only a few minutes from the castle, he found as he followed the stream into the sunny field beyond. When he walked back in he was quickly forced to change into dry and clean clothes, but managed to sit down at the table with his sisters just in time for dessert, which was fine by him.

-

There were several years that Louis spent wondering what happened to Harry of the Forest. His adventuring increased for a while in what proved to be a futile attempt to see him again. For a small boy wandering in the woods, he ended up capturing a large part of the prince’s mind for a very long time, always shrouded in mystery. Why _was_ Harry there? And why was he never there again?

-

When Louis Tomlinson officially became king, he never expected to be dealing with such minor disputes as trespassing.

Well, technically he was still Acting Ruler, because the law stated that he could only truly be king when he married. This was why the castle was about to open up to the public for a ball in less than a week, and yet another reason why Louis didn’t have the time to deal with silly demands like this.

If anyone were to bother to ask his opinion, he would willingly tell them that he _could not give two flying fucks_ about if someone happens to be wandering through the forest that surrounds his home. Sure, he understands the importance of making sure the animals of the forest aren’t killed off, but if someone wants to wander through, who is he to take offence?

But the castle was apparently his land (ridiculous, since his mother still lived on the estate with him, having only seceded the throne when she thought it time, and this was truly her land more than his). This apparently meant that it was his job to deal with every trespasser they came across and it got old very quickly when someone was just running after their dog and got lost, or were hunting a few Guinea fowl for their family. 

This one apparently had been caught red-handed setting traps, which Louis had to admit was a little rude - at least _pretend_ like you’re not hunting in the King’s Forest - but everyone was insisting that he refused to leave the forest or pay a fine, so he was brought to Louis to deal with.

Well, as Louis wasn’t particularly fond of the barbaric act of _throwing to the dungeons_ , he wasn’t sure what they expected him to do about it. A stern royal talking-to perhaps.

Entering the room where the so-called trespasser was being held, the first thing Louis noticed was an unruly mess of curls. The man seated at the table in front of him, flanked by two guards as if he were actually of any danger, was slouching onto the table in front of him, his long fingers intertwining as if he were deep in contemplation.

He looked familiar and Louis knew that he knew this man, immediately struggling with the fact that this man was a stranger but so clearly familiar.

With a wave of his hand he dismissed the guards, who looked wary but did as they were told, a rough scraping of chairs and the thunk of the door closing behind them. Louis took a seat in front of the man, who was watching him now like a hawk.

“I hear you were trespassing in my forest,” Louis started off. “Setting traps? It does seem like someone asking to get caught.”

The man shrugged. “My father once told me you can’t own a whole forest.”

Louis’s eyes widened a fraction as things clicked into place. “Can I ask for a name?”

“Harry,” the man answered. He was smug, clearly having known who Louis was from the beginning.

“Well Harry,” Louis leaned back in his chair. “I get the feeling you’ve spent a whole lot of time in the forest over the years.”

Harry shrugged.

“I feel like getting caught setting traps was a bit of an amateur mistake,” Louis continued. That earned another shrug. “So might I ask why you really ended up down here?”

Harry grinned up at him. “I heard there was a ball coming up created to woo a beautiful man, and I was thinking it was about time I found myself another scone.”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this seemed... sort of finished at least. I wrote the last third of this with a fever and a craving for oranges so I might have been a bit delirious.
> 
> Oh well! Find me at [my tumblr here](londonfoginacup.tumblr.com).
> 
> And if you liked it, [check out and possibly reblog the fic post](http://londonfoginacup.tumblr.com/post/156039029394/forests-and-other-kinds-of-wildlife-by)


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